Proposal came after Blue Rhino propane-plant explosion that injured 9

Several days after the Blue Rhino propane plant exploded in Tavares, Fire Chief Richard Keith told the company's president how it could help: A donated firetruck worth up to $400,000 would be welcome, Keith wrote, and it could even serve as a rolling advertisement for Blue Rhino.

"You could paint it and apply whatever graphics you wanted. It could be painted in Blue Rhino colors … and have a big Blue Rhino logo on the side," Keith wrote in an email Aug. 8, about a week after the July 29 catastrophe that injured nine people and propelled pieces of propane cylinders as far as half a mile.

A donated rescue truck could be decked out the same way, Keith wrote. "It can, and I think should, scream Blue Rhino all the way."

Keith's unusual proposal for promoting the company, whose plant explosion is under investigation by the state fire marshal, came in response to an offer of an unspecified donation by Blue Rhino President Tod Brown. The email was obtained by the Orlando Sentinel through a public-records request.

In an interview this week, Keith, who has been fire chief since 2006, said he wasn't attempting to pressure the company into making a donation.

"I don't want people to think I'm shaking down Blue Rhino," he said. "I didn't want to slam the door if they're going to give a gift. There was no expectation they would give us anything."

Keith discussed a potential donation by Blue Rhino with his boss, City Administrator John Drury, then emailed Brown a wish list. Keith pointed out that a cash donation would simply go into the city's general fund, but an equipment purchase could directly benefit the Fire Department.

The list included a new or used firetruck at a cost of $200,000 to $400,000; a new or used rescue truck in the $60,000 to $100,000 range; and more-modest possibilities, such as flashlights at $75 to $85 each.

"As John and I talked, we discussed that it might be in Blue Rhino's 'best interest,' from the perspective of 'image and reputation recovery' and civic/business partnering, to go ahead and make some kind of donation of a piece of equipment to the department," Keith wrote in his email to Brown. Keith said the company did not respond to his proposal.

Scott Brockelmeyer, a spokesman for Ferrellgas, Blue Rhino's parent company, said Brown doesn't recall receiving the email. But Brockelmeyer did confirm the possibility of a donation.

He said the company appreciates the "fast response and heroic efforts" of the emergency responders. "To demonstrate our appreciation, we have discussed donating some item emergency responders could benefit from, but we have not yet decided what that might be."

Suggesting donations doesn't pose any potential ethics violations, especially considering that Brown made an initial offer, said Joseph Little, an emeritus professor at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law who specializes in the ethics of local government.

"I don't think there was any state law that was violated or even seriously touched upon here," Little said. "The problem could be the message from the city or this chief that if you want to get good service, you must do this."

Little pointed out that there are no restrictions on a company making donations to a city government.

But Keith's proposal to Blue Rhino bothered Duane Siebert, whose company warehouse,TonerRefillKits.com, is next to the propane depot and was damaged by the heat of the fire and the impact from an exploding propane canister. He said he feels lucky that his business didn't burn down.

Siebert said rather than making a partnership with Blue Rhino, the city should hold the company accountable. "If you want to do something for the community, how about making sure what happened never happens again and that you move out of town?"

In the fires and spectacularexplosions a month ago, tractor-trailers, sheds and thousands of Blue Rhino cylinders burned.

Although Tavares firefighters responded in force, along with units from Lake County and other cities, the state Fire Marshal's Office has been conducting the investigation into the cause. Four plant workers people remain hospitalized with burns.

A contractor with 20 years of experience in propane-cleanup efforts has started removing the burned cylinders, which could take up to six weeks. Brown has said that the company plans to reopen the plant and is continuing to pay its employees during the cleanup.

Since the explosion, the one safety request the city has made of Blue Rhino was to make sure the water-deluge system for the property's three 30,000-gallon tanks is automatic or can be remotely switched on. An explosion of one of those tanks would have affected a blast zone of 800 feet, and the water system protecting it had a manual switch that was not turned on until well after the fire had started.

Drury, the city administrator, said Keith's email simply was intended to follow up on Brown's offer.